This year I have gotten my holiday baking off to an early start. I baked a couple of batches over the weekend, and then smartly (if I do say so myself) have been making subsequent batches of dough each night this week. The first two holiday cookies are Sugar-topped Molasses Spice Cookies, a holiday staple in my kitchen, and a new addition: Polka Dot cookies. Now, due to my husband erasing most of my how-to photos while playing with the new camera, I only have the finished product for the Polka Dot cookies. I happen to make a second batch of the molasses cookies though because said husband ate half of those before I put them away, so the pictures were replaced! The Polka Dot cookies are off the back of a bag of Guittard Green Mint Chips, and the Molasses cookies are from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From my Home to Yours.
I found these mint chips at Cost Plus World Market, impulse buy, but the cookies turned out good! Below is the recipe I used from the package.
Polka Dot Cookies – Yields 4-5 dozen 2-inch cookies
2 cups (12oz) semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup butter
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3 large eggs
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups (12oz) Guittard Green Mint Chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Melt semisweet chips and butter, stirring constantly until smooth. Set aside to cool. In small bowl combine flour baking soda and salt; set aside. I used the microwave to melt the chocolate and butter instead of a double boiler. If you choose to melt the chocolate this way, make sure you only heat it little by little so it doesn’t burn.
In large bowl beat eggs, sugar and vanilla until light. Blend in melted chocolate then dry ingredients. Stir in green mint chips and chill for 10-15 minutes or until stiff. Drop by well rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes; cookies will be soft in centers but will harden as they cool.
Make sure you have a glass of milk on hand when these come out of the oven!
Sugar-topped Molasses Spice Cookies – Yields 24 large cookies
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsps baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground allspice
Pinch of cracked or coarsely ground black pepper
1 ½ sticks (12 T) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
½ cup molasses (not blackstrap)
1 large egg
About ½ cup sugar, for rolling
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and pepper.
Working with a stand mixer, preferable fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the brown sugar and molasses and beat for 2 minutes or so to blend, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the egg and beat for 1 minute more. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing until the flour and spices disappear. If some flour remains in the bottom of the bowl, to avoid overbeating the dough, mix in the last of the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula. You’ll have a smooth, very soft dough.
Divide the dough in half and wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Freeze for 30 minutes, or refrigerate for at least 1 hour. The dough can be kept refrigerated for up to 4 days.
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
Put the sugar in a small bowl. Working with one packet of dough at a time, take about a teaspoon of dough and roll each piece into a smooth ball between your palms. One by one, roll the balls around in the bowl of sugar, then place them on one of the baking sheets. Dip the bottom of a glass into the sugar and use ti to press down on the cookies until they are between ¼ and ½ inch thick.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the tops feel set to the touch. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and, if the cookies have spread and are touching, use the edge of a metal spatula to separate them while they are still hot. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to room temperature. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
These cookies freeze very well, so they’re a good variety to bake early on in the season. Just make sure you wrap them very tight.
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